Omer (00:11.840)
Welcome to another episode of the SaaS Podcast.
I'm your host, Omer Khan, and this is the show where I interview proven founders and industry experts who share their stories, strategies and insights to help you build, launch and grow your SaaS business.
Today's interview is with Guillermo Sanchez.
Guillermo is the co founder and CEO of Publicas.
The easiest way to turn your print catalogs and magazines into interactive shoppable publications on all devices.
Guillermo has bootstrapped business since it was founded in 2006, and currently Publicas has over 600 customers, including many leading retail companies.
Guillermo, welcome to the show.
Guillermo Sanchez (00:55.460)
Hi, Omer.
Thanks.
Omer (00:57.540)
Now, I gave the audience a brief overview of your product and business, but tell us a little bit more about you personally.
Who is Guillermo when he's not working?
Guillermo Sanchez (01:08.740)
Yeah.
Motorcycle aficionado.
And since a short.
Since six months, father of a beautiful son.
Omer (01:20.740)
Congratulations.
Guillermo Sanchez (01:22.020)
Yeah, thanks.
Those are my.
Together with my wife are my main occupations outside work nowadays.
Okay.
Omer (01:30.580)
And you're currently in the Netherlands, right?
Guillermo Sanchez (01:32.980)
Yeah, we're actually based in Amsterdam, in the beautiful city of Amsterdam, in the city center, in between the canals.
Omer (01:41.460)
Very nice.
Now, we like to kick things off with a success quote to better understand what drives and motivates our guests.
What is one of your favorite quotes?
Guillermo Sanchez (01:54.690)
As you've probably heard from my name, my roots lie in Spain.
So I'm originally Spanish.
And normally that means that genetically I'm not very structured, always, let's say, my precondition.
So some years ago, I read a quote from Eisenhower.
I think I believe it was MacArthur or Eisenhower.
One of the things he said when, let's say, going to war plans are worthless, but it was the planning that was indispensable.
And the thing is, I don't like to operate with very strict plans.
But that gives me some comfort in that thought that I try to plan as much as possible, but then accept that in chaos I will find my way.
Omer (02:42.030)
And so is that kind of reflective of the way that you've built this business?
Guillermo Sanchez (02:47.710)
Yeah, to a certain extent.
I think so.
Actually, the idea for this company originated together with a former college buddy on a Friday evening in the pub, drinking a beer and Monday.
Omer (03:08.350)
That's not why it's called Publi Test.
Guillermo Sanchez (03:09.950)
Right?
No, actually that's a very good coincidence.
Maybe we should add that story.
But in this case, no, we needed a name that sounded.
We wanted a dot com domain that sounded good and it was quite tricky and something with publishing, but actually we had some ideas and he is very good with fiddling with technology and literally the next Monday, I quit my job.
So.
Wow.
Yeah.
That was how much planning we put into the business.
Wow.
Omer (03:43.480)
Okay, so let's start by giving our listeners a better understanding of exactly what publicas is, who are your target customers, and what are the top pain points that you're trying to solve for them.
Guillermo Sanchez (03:58.360)
Yeah.
Okay.
So we've developed a publishing platform, or you could say, that enables you to take, for example, a PDF and create a very nice online catalog that's shoppable, completely responsive on mobile devices.
That works really well.
So our biggest and most important customers are mainly retail companies.
So, for example, in the US that might be companies like Home Depot that have weekly ads or catalogs that they want to make shoppable and accessible on mobile devices.
So next to that, nowadays we also have freemium versions of our application, and those are used by almost all kinds of business.
We have hospitals that you want to publish brochures or this could be schools.
Actually, we have all kinds of.
Yeah.
Segments in our customer list.
But let's say very important customers for us are retail companies.
And here in Europe, let's say we work with almost all leading companies and in countries like we originated in the Netherlands, where we have almost.
We work for 70% of all nationally operating retail companies.
Wow.
Omer (05:30.290)
Okay, so tell me a little bit more about where the idea came from.
So you and a friend were in a pub.
What was the problem that you guys started talking about that you wanted to solve?
Guillermo Sanchez (05:45.250)
Yeah, so me and Khalil, who is my co founder.
Yeah, we know each other.
We've known each other for years.
Yeah.
Khalil basically had developed a new technology to publish PDFs online.
So it was still very early stage.
So we came together, had a beer on Friday like we were used to having once in a while.
I was working as a consultant for Deloitte after graduating college and did that for a couple of years.
So we got together and he showed it to me and he asked me, you know, what do you think about the technology?
Basically, even from the technology part, you know, So I myself had, you know, always.
I've been selling.
Yes.
Stuff since I was four years old.
I started selling when I was four years old.
I was sending, let's say, my pencils and pens in the classroom to classmates.
So I always had a passion for entrepreneurship.
So after being at Deloitte for some time, I thought, you know, I was looking around and thinking, you know, is there something that I could get involved in?
So while we were having that meeting, he showed me the technology and he said, do you think that we could make a product out of this?
And, yeah, we talked about it, and I thought, I think this technology would be nice.
I was a consultant, so I had to carry around a lot of, let's say, trade journals where you have to read up on.
For example, I was in compliance back then, financial compliance.
We got these trade magazines, professional magazines that you had to read and sign.
So I would do a lot of international work, and I was always carrying this bag, you know, full of these things on the plane and everything, to read up on all the current events in between.
So I thought, you know, why not create a platform for digital magazines where you can access all these magazines digitally on your laptop instead of carrying all this paper around?
So, yeah, and that's basically how we got started.
So we developed this platform for professional publishers and.
Yeah, and then got started.
Omer (08:11.709)
So what was it about what you saw, by the way, Is Khalil still involved in the business today?
Guillermo Sanchez (08:17.870)
Yeah.
Yes.
Yeah.
Okay.
Omer (08:20.270)
So what was it about the technology that you saw which convinced you to quit your job the next week?
Guillermo Sanchez (08:29.820)
To be real honest, it was not the technology because there was very little.
There was almost nothing.
For me, what convinced me to quit my job was like, you know, yeah, I wanted to.
You know, I wanted to be an entrepreneur.
So.
And at that point, I had no children.
I was not living in a very expensive house, still was not driving a car that was too expensive.
You know, what they called here in the Netherlands, we call that I was not in a golden cage.
So I thought, you know, before I am, I just need to do this.
I need to get this out of my system.
And actually, you know, at that point, I didn't even care what the possibility was.
I just wanted.
I was motivated to do it.
So, yeah, that's why.
Yeah, we had a nice idea.
It seemed like we could do something with that.
And we, you know, we just thought, there's one way of finding it out, just doing it.
Omer (09:27.680)
And did Khalil quit his job as well, or.
Guillermo Sanchez (09:31.760)
Yeah, he was actually finishing his.
He was still in college, so basically, yeah, for him, it was more easy to transition into that.
So that's why we came together and started.
So we started basically also in our living room of, let's say, an apartment that we rented.
And, yeah, we started to try to sell because we didn't have any funding or something like that.
It was a bit like before, here in the Netherlands, at least.
There was actually like a very good also investment ecosystem.
So we basically.
I had some savings I had some money in the bank, basically, and we used that to survive.
Omer (10:29.390)
How much of a Runway did you have based on your savings?
How long did you think you could keep going with this before you had to start making money?
Guillermo Sanchez (10:37.310)
Okay, this is a very interesting story.
So I think, if I remember correctly, I had about €20,000 in the bank.
And so the funny thing is, once I quit my job, I moved apartments to have an apartment where we had a bit more room.
So I made the stupid mistake of the beginner's mistake of, let's say, quitting my job before, let's say, leasing the new apartment.
So of that 20, you can already start to maybe anticipate this.
Of those 20, I thought, you know, we have about the Runway of €20,000.
You know, probably we're using up about €2,000 or maybe €1,000 to €2,000amonth.
So it gives you 10 months.
But then what happened when once we rented a new apartment, they said, yeah, but you're unemployed.
And I told them, no, we're unemployed.
I started a company.
Yeah, but do you have three years worth of profitable, let's say, your profit of loss statements?
Can you show us that you've made a profit, you know, three years consecutively?
And I said, no, because we don't exist three years.
So they said, okay, the only way that we can rent you the apartment is if you, let's say, pay the rent up front for one year in a deposit and then pay rent anyhow.
So our Runway got automatically, let's say, reduced to half to 50% because of this unexpected deposit.
Wow.
So that motivated us even more to try to make some money.
Omer (12:18.840)
Okay, so you guys, you said you quit your job a week later, you're working on this business.
What were you trying to sell?
I mean, you said there wasn't really that much there with the technology.
So what were you going out and trying to sell to people?
Guillermo Sanchez (12:35.080)
Yeah, basically.
So what we did is later on, when I was reading the Lean Startup, it was really funny because then I found out actually that we were very.
We always had been naturally working lean out of necessity.
So we actually started selling the idea that we had initially as a service.
So we took that technology of creating, like, a digital publication, and we said, okay, if you want, we want to.
We approached some big publishers here in the Netherlands and said, okay, if we can create a digital.
We can create digital publications for you that enable you to sell, to make them available to your customer.
Digital magazines next to your current subscription models.
And we'll just do the work for you.
So we'll deliver you the end product so you don't have to worry about anything, doing the production yourself, etc.
So we started what they call a Conchares MVP.
And yeah, that actually worked very well.
And as we grew, it were our customers actually that helped us define the product and then actually even finance the product and finance basically us.
So this is how.
Omer (13:53.920)
So what do you mean by that?
Guillermo Sanchez (13:56.240)
So I mean.
You mean by conchares MVP or.
Omer (13:59.400)
No, I mean with how did they help finance you?
Guillermo Sanchez (14:02.610)
Yeah, because basically we co developed the product by them by selling it initially as a service.
And while we were delivering the service, we were automating the tasks to provide the service which eventually led to the product.
And at some point we even sold them the new products and collected the money before we had even built the product.
So they basically fronted the money for us to go and build a product.
Omer (14:32.640)
How did you do that?
I'm sure there's a lesson here for
Guillermo Sanchez (14:35.640)
everybody selling be creative.
I mean, work with your customer.
I would say the most important thing is first to find a customer that has some kind of problem and work with them.
And we still do this today.
Work with them to genuinely help them solve this problem, you know, together, invest heavily in the relationship, in trying to understand them, in trying to really get a very deep insight into their business.
And then let's say once you base, this builds an enormous trust.
And where there's trust, there's let's say people that are ready or able to invest and that is what leads to customers to at some point giving you their money because they know that you're going to solve their problem.
So they.
Yeah.
Co entrepreneur with you.
Almost.
Omer (15:35.590)
Okay, so you were kind of providing this concierge MVP offering.
Were you selling it as a service or were you selling it as a product to these customers?
Guillermo Sanchez (15:46.230)
Initially?
We will, yeah, both.
So we started as a service service and as we productized it step by step, we also changed our business model, let's say gradually so to.
To a more.
Yeah, where we're charging more in the form of a product than as a business.
So yeah.
Omer (16:07.190)
So going back, looking at one of those early customers, what did you say to them which persuaded them to give you money for something that you weren't able to deliver today?
It's like, give me some money and I'll come back with a product sometime in the future.
What was that conversation like?
How did it go?
Guillermo Sanchez (16:24.900)
Well, something like that, Yeah.
I mean, again, I would say it's all about trust.
I see this, we still use this methodology every day.
It's about, I mean you're always able to invest, but as a startup, a lot of times maybe not in money, but in time and effort, you know, so, and I.
And the, the way that you get a customer to give you, to front you money, to give you money, even if you don't have a product, is to first invest your time and effort in genuinely working with them is trying to understand them.
I mean, and that's basically you can do that, that's, that's free, basically.
So there's nobody holding you back to even providing the service that you can or perform yourself free of charge.
And that's where it starts.
I really want you.
Nowadays we say this to customers also we want to build this feature.
Sometimes there are features that need research or need to be co developed and sometimes we might even propose to some.
We have very big corporate customers also that let's say use our standard product.
But sometimes we even have ideas where we say, okay, we have this very cool idea.
We would really want to test that together with you and learn if this works.
It will be great if you're able to invest with that, you know, if you, I mean, we're gonna put some considerable time in it and build and you know, allocate resources if you would be willing to invest also some money with that, you know, to make the investment possible.
Because I mean we're, you know, that makes, gives us more room to invest.
And yeah, we say, you know, if you can, it's great.
If you can't, we're going to find a way to do it anyhow and we'll cooperate with you anyhow.
So.
And you know, that's openness.
I think, you know, when you begin investing before, when you give before you ask, I think you know, that creates a very strong relationship.
That's my philosophy at least.
Omer (18:40.520)
So were you giving away equity in the company for this investment?
Guillermo Sanchez (18:44.440)
No, I was giving time, yeah.
Omer (18:48.200)
I mean, you don't have a background in sales, right?
You haven't worked as a sales guy?
Guillermo Sanchez (18:55.480)
Not before having worked, let's say, in my own company, no.
Omer (18:59.960)
And do you think your experience at Deloitte in a consulting role helped you or do you think this was something that goes back to the days of trying to sell the pencils in the classroom?
Guillermo Sanchez (19:13.780)
Okay.
Before I started my company, the thing is, when I first started Pubitas, I had never had a background in sales.
So my background was in computer science and business administration.
And then I went to Work for Deloitte as an international management consultant.
So I would say I'm good at solving problems and I'm good at, I mean, maybe not even solving problems, but working with people and analyzing problems.
So what I actually learned by, eventually by once I started my own business and I had to sell is that actually the best salespeople are those that really understand the problem and can give a solution.
Because that changes the whole concept of selling.
Right.
So that means that everybody has problems.
And if you can give a solution, a lot of times you don't even have to convince somebody in the form of slap on sales, like, I'm gonna sell you something that you don't need.
So yeah, actually I found out that I was pretty good at sales.
Yeah.
So that, and that helped us enormously because we financed our growth completely from, let's say, from sales.
We've never taken basically money from anybody.
Omer (20:44.590)
So somebody who's listening to this saying, I know I need to sell, I need to, I need to generate sales, but I am, I am just crappy at selling anything.
Right.
So what I'm hearing from you is, number one, focus on building trust before you do anything else.
Number two, understand those, those customers problems.
And then number two, genuinely try to help find solutions for those problems.
Guillermo Sanchez (21:17.770)
Yeah, I think, yeah.
In terms, coming back to the quotes part, I think one of the most important realizations, I think you don't sell to people, you make them want to buy.
And I think if you, if you, why?
And that's what I, you know, what we also use as a guideline here because that's a very fundamental different way of looking at the situation.
You know, when you make, when you make somebody want to buy, that means that you have to have a genuine solution, you have to have a good product or put effort into making the product better, to understanding, you know, to working in, just continuously improving that.
And at some point what happens is, you know, selling becomes very easy.
Like it's just bringing, for example, your product to the attention of your potential customers.
Right.
So yeah, and I think that for every entrepreneur, I think that that's where basically what it begins.
You know, just put the effort in jump.
And nowadays, I mean, again, after reading the Lean Startup and we're like crazy about working lean here, that means that, you know, let's say, spend time with your potential customers, spend time with people that you want to help and you know, start helping them without even building a product.
And then once you understand what your problem that you're solving, how much, you know, what kind of worth that problem has?
You know, you can work back towards productizing, and then it's actually not that easy.
You know, the world is filled with problems that need to be solved, so there's no shortage of that.
So there's actually abundance of problems.
So.
Omer (23:03.590)
Okay, so how long did it take you to get that first sale?
Guillermo Sanchez (23:10.150)
Actually, I think probably in the first month or something.
So in the first month, again, we were very much.
We were very motivated after the shock that we've just lost 50% of our Runway.
So actually, for me, that was like, holy crap, what happened?
What hit us?
Which was hit us.
So that really, like, you know, put us to work.
And I started.
I had no idea where to start again.
So I've done everything.
You know, when we started, we scraped emails.
Yeah, I would say we sent like, something that would probably be considered a bit spammy email.
We did everything that we could do, you know, to learn.
We just thought, you know, let's try it.
You know, I mean, we don't.
We don't want to break any laws or something, but everything that's permitted, let's just do it.
You know, at some point we even, you know, talk about.
Thought about, you know, shall we call companies from the yellow Pages?
You know, we just.
Let's just.
And the thing is, when you.
And again, going back from lean, when you.
I mean, there obviously nowadays, you know, you have great resources that will help you conceptualize a lot of things much faster.
So I really believed, you know, just get started and then, you know, start learning as fast as possible as you can.
But, you know, when we started a couple of years ago, again, you know, you didn't have, like, resources like Quora.
You know, Quora is like gold.
You know, you want to sell a SaaS business to business product, you go on Quora, follow the right people, and you will get a very good idea of where to start.
So, yeah, but for us, it was the first month.
And like a lot of companies, you know, just start contacting, reaching out, selling.
You know, we started just before LinkedIn was really popular, which is, I think, a very powerful business tool.
So for us, it was, you know, Googling somebody.
Googling who is responsible for, you know, at the publishers and just finding a way to getting them on the phone.
And we just did.
Omer (25:18.240)
Looking back at that first year, what do you think was one of the biggest mistakes that you made?
Guillermo Sanchez (25:26.320)
Yeah, I think the biggest mistakes for us, I mean, I would say not realizing that we were a product company and a technology company.
So at some point.
So we were delivering a software platform.
So basically that makes you a technology company.
But like I said myself, I was very sales oriented.
So at some point, so sometimes you forget how powerful it is to have very good people on board, for example, that can build all these ideas that you have, like really, you know, in an exceptional way.
So what we did initially, we started investing too much in sales initially, instead of investing, for example, more into the product and making a better product and building out a better team.
So.
Yeah, and that eventually caught up with us.
Yeah, at some point it catches up with you that you, for example, that a certain, there are certain markets started to grow and we started to get competitors that were developing much faster than we.
Than we would do.
So, yeah, that was a important lesson.
Another lesson I think for me was also, and I'm trying to apply this nowadays, is think bigger.
I mean, the good thing about working lean is, you know, just get started.
But sometimes you get so trapped in the incremental improvements that you forget, you know, to really step out and think, you know, how do I really, for example, in our case, you know, how do we pivot this company to a billion dollars a year revenue company, which I think you can do.
But the thing is, if you don't have, if you're too busy, like if you don't create the time, you know, to also zoom out.
Yeah, you, sometimes you go on incrementally, you could say premature optimization.
Right.
So these are the things I think that, yeah, I realized that I could have done better.
Omer (27:42.880)
Okay, so you, you started selling, you started getting customers and then you started investing and in building the product, at what point do you feel that you started to get some meaningful traction with the business?
Guillermo Sanchez (27:58.490)
I mean, yeah, with us, traction went in two stages.
Like, so initially we built our product.
Okay, initially.
So we started selling it as a concierge mvp.
And idea was to create a digital magazine platform for publishers, and specifically professional publishers, trade publishers, you know, the guys that make the magazine, for example, for, you know, auditors or, you know.
So, okay, so what we did is we started, we approached some very big publishers and said, okay, we're going to help you make the transition to digital and we're going to create a product for you that's going to enable you to.
And yeah, this was just to create some context.
This was just before the launch of the iPad.
So we were a bit too early because actually, all the ideas that we have nowadays, you know, if you go to an ibooks application or where actually Amazon is doing.
We had that like six years ago.
So we started with the publishers and then we noticed two things.
One is that actually the publishers were not very interested in the Internet.
And this is really funny because their business model was mainly based on moving paper, I will say.
So they were earning the money not specifically by somebody reading the magazine, but more by putting it in your mailbox.
And this whole digital thing was actually more a threat at that point than it was like a profit because it was very.
Profit maker was very transparent.
So the advertisers would ask, you know, tell us about the readership, and those numbers would be lower than in reality what they were reporting.
So this is one thing.
So we found out at some point that even though the idea was good, so it was very difficult to scale it to an extent where you can get a viable company over time.
You want to hit certain growth rates.
And later on I've learned in an interesting.
Paul Graham of Y Combinator writes a lot about this that you know, that you have traction, but when you're growing on a weekly base between 5 to 15%, then you have product market fit.
You have achieved product market fit.
So this is a very interesting case where you see that, okay, there's a customer, there's a customer willing to pay, but you're not getting the growth rates.
So at some point we said, okay, I mean, this is actually not going anywhere.
This is not a company.
I mean, we wanna grow.
Yeah, become bigger.
So that's when we decided to step back and look at, okay, you know, are there other customers that might have use for this technology?
And actually at that moment, we were approached by a retail company here in the Netherlands, like you could say the European equivalent of Walmart, that was interested in the technology for the exact opposite reason that the publishers were not interested.
Let's say the engine that we developed to publish the magazines enabled you to completely analyze who was reading which products on which page, for how long, etc.
Which at that point was fairly new because it was based in Flash and Flash was this like this closed system and nobody could see inside.
So we had developed that thinking that it would be neat for advertisers.
But actually the publishers, yeah, they were not happy with that transparency.
But the retailer actually was very excited because for the first time it enabled them to publish their weekly ads and get insights into how customers were going through the weekly ads and the promotional catalogs.
So, yeah, we did a trial with them and actually realized that even though that that was not the most obvious place for Us to start when we launched the product, that the product market fit and the value for them was many times bigger than actually the publisher at that point.
So this is actually when we did a pivot.
Okay, so this customer was a bit by accident.
We realized by talking to the customer that the value was actually much higher.
So then we started talking to other customers, to other retail companies.
And so we basically transitioned the same product.
We kept the product the same, said, okay, we're not going to sell it to retailers.
And yeah, then we saw that we grew very fast in the Netherlands initially.
And at that point we said, okay, now it's.
Now that we know that we really have traction, we decided to do a rebuild of the product.
And so, you know, geared towards that market.
Omer (33:07.670)
What do you think would have happened if you hadn't refocused the business on retailers back then and continued with publishers?
Guillermo Sanchez (33:18.310)
I mean, I think we would probably be.
Would not exist today.
Yeah, so because the business was not growing and it was stagnating.
And at some point, the thing is, and that's what I.
That's also quite interesting.
Like for example, at that point for publishers, two things could have happened.
One is we would have been out of business.
The reason why is, and this is very interesting also for entrepreneurs.
A lot of the times you see that you have, I think it's Gartner that has this, what they call the hype cycle.
Right.
So a lot of things initially, the reasons for companies, you know, to try certain technologies are not always because they think that this is a good structural thing to do.
So it's more because they're looking, you know, there's this new technology and they are unsure of how this is going to fit within their business.
And just to give an example, maybe in retail you have something like they call narrow casting, where the screens in stores, so this technology, a couple of years hit the market and you.
There was like, you know, narrow casting was everywhere.
You know, you had screens everywhere.
People were trying stuff.
But a friend of mine also told me, you know, this was being financed from budgets, innovation budgets.
So because the companies didn't know exactly how we're going to use this new channel, and we're still learning and do we need to do something?
But what happens at some point they understand, they figure it out.
And so it moves away from the realm of, you know, innovation budget towards, you know, actual, let's say, allocated budget for this channel and this being a part of your channel mix.
So what happens is that mean if you as a company are not solving a problem that is structurally a problem that's going to be solved.
You know, so the hype, if you don't, if there's not a way to move this, let's say, through the hype cycle, what happens is your business ends.
So for us, the digital magazine thing, you know, I think we were too early in the business to survive the hype cycle because they would have rather have killed it.
So we probably would have died before the iPad had, let's say, taken off.
Or maybe not.
We'll never know.
But certainly we noticed that.
Yeah, I mean, that we were in the innovation stage, so we noticed that you were not getting the repetitive business that we would like to have.
Omer (36:00.900)
So let's talk about the business today.
How much revenue did you guys do in 2014?
Guillermo Sanchez (36:06.820)
Yeah, we're close to 2 million euros a year.
Okay.
Which is in terms of dollars yearly current.
Yeah, dollar value.
Depends.
I think we actually don't look too much at what the dollar is doing, but I think right now it's probably somewhere like 1.20.
So that would be around two and a half million dollars of yearly recurring revenue.
Omer (36:34.650)
And how are you guys tracking for this year?
Guillermo Sanchez (36:38.650)
Yeah, I mean, let's say our next goal is to grow to 10 million recurring.
And I actually don't care if it's dollar or euros, but 10 million yearly recurring revenue.
The reason why is, and I follow this very good VC and entrepreneur, Jason Lemkin of Stormventures, I think, and he says, you know, from 0 to 1 million is impossible, from 1 million to 10 million is unlikely, I think, and from 10 million to 100 million is inevitable.
So, so that's the next step to become a micro brand.
So, yeah, we've rebuilded our platform.
We are getting this revenue mainly of European markets with a very big market share in the Netherlands.
And now actually we're rolling out internationally.
It's going very well.
So we're getting customers in the US with Mexico, Canada.
Yeah.
Turkey and.
Yeah.
So we hope to hit the 10 million within two years.
That's our, our goal.
We're aiming to at least get 150, 150 growth year on year.
Omer (37:55.430)
Wow.
Now, some people would look at the, the print business and the publishers that you were going after and say, okay, that was probably a smart move.
Guillermo Sanchez (38:07.390)
Right.
Omer (38:07.670)
I mean, that industry we know is in decline anyway, and if they're not embracing online, they're going to have a problem.
But I think even if you look at retailers, publishing is becoming easier and easier.
Right.
Guillermo Sanchez (38:27.040)
So.
Omer (38:27.400)
So do you foresee this time where these publishers won't need to take the step to go to a PDF to then go to publish something, and they'll already have the tools to be able to go directly and publish this stuff themselves?
And as that happens, how do you see the role of publicas?
Guillermo Sanchez (38:48.110)
Yeah, here you go.
And that's what I mean.
With continuously pivoting and reinventing yourself, we're helping develop.
We're now, as we speak, helping them develop those tools together that they're going to use.
So again, like we did when we started, so only we're now doing it with the trust and the relation and even the funding that they're providing us to take that next step.
So what I'm trying to say is we are always inventing our next product together with our customers.
So what we're selling today is not.
We know that that's not the reality in two years.
So where we want to be in two years, we're actually now developing together already with our customers.
Got it, Got it.
Omer (39:40.850)
And how big is the business today?
How many people do you have working there?
Guillermo Sanchez (39:44.690)
We're actually quite small.
So at this moment we're nine people.
Omer (39:50.050)
Wow.
Guillermo Sanchez (39:51.250)
Yeah.
Just to give you an idea, our platform services about 20 million unique visitors each month.
We're almost, let's say, present in all the geographies.
We have customers in China, a lot of traffic in China, us, South America, South Africa, and yeah, we do that with a very small team, but very, let's say, well organized.
That's also part of our eventually about, are, let's say, philosophy.
So we try to hire for quality, not for quantity.
Got it.
Omer (40:34.280)
All right, Guillermo, it's now time for our lightning round.
I'm going to ask you a series of questions and I'd like you to answer them as quickly as you can.
Guillermo Sanchez (40:41.280)
Are you ready?
Yeah.
Omer (40:43.480)
What's the best piece of business advice that you ever received?
Guillermo Sanchez (40:48.840)
Cash is King.
Omer (40:52.530)
What book would you recommend to our audience and why?
Guillermo Sanchez (40:56.210)
Oh, that's, that's.
That's actually a very tricky one.
The Lean Startup.
Omer (41:00.810)
I would say, what's one attribute or characteristic in your mind of a successful entrepreneur?
Guillermo Sanchez (41:13.730)
Perseverance.
Omer (41:16.390)
What's your favorite personal productivity tool or habit?
Guillermo Sanchez (41:20.870)
Asana.
Omer (41:24.070)
If you had to start over tomorrow, what type of business would you go out and build?
Guillermo Sanchez (41:32.069)
If you would ask me this 10 years ago, I would say electric cars.
I'm very jealous of Elon.
No, but.
No.
Yeah.
My passion lies actually in nutrition and healthcare also.
So I'd say.
Or something with learning that's
Omer (41:58.659)
cool.
What's an interesting or fun fact about you that most people don't know?
Guillermo Sanchez (42:08.430)
Wow.
Yeah.
That I cannot stand still.
I mean, that.
Yeah, yeah, Actually, people know that they're always imitating me here at the office.
Like, this is.
Yeah, actually.
And what people don't know, actually, that I wouldn't know, actually, I have no idea.
Omer (42:32.430)
And finally, what is one of your most important passions outside of your work?
Guillermo Sanchez (42:38.560)
I would say learning.
Like, you know, I love to learn.
Yeah, Learn.
I mean, my brain.
I notice if I don't learn, I become very unhappy.
So I would say that's my second biggest passion.
Omer (42:57.440)
Awesome.
Guillermo, I want to thank you for joining me today and sharing your experiences and insights with our audience.
And thank you for letting us get to know you a little better personally as well.
Now, if folks want to find out more about Publictas or they want to get in touch with you, what's the best way for them to do that?
Guillermo Sanchez (43:17.540)
I mean, you can tweet me.
I'm on Twitter, Guillermo Sanchez, or LinkedIn.
I think I even have.
I mean, any channel that you can find me on, just ping me and I will get back to you.
So, yeah, just let me know.
We're happy, especially specifically entrepreneurs.
I believe very much in sharing knowledge with each other and lessons learned.
And yeah, if somebody wants to reach out.
Yes.
And if you do want to publish your PDF, obviously, or increase your conversion with digital publication, check out politos.com we have a great free version nowadays, so we're getting a lot of compliments about that.
Omer (44:07.940)
Awesome, Guillermo.
Thanks again and I wish you continued success.
Guillermo Sanchez (44:12.020)
You too.
Thanks a lot.
Omer (44:13.380)
Cheers.
